WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said he expects the frozen federal funds schools were set to receive July 1, including $68 million in Alabama, will be released soon.
Tuberville told reporters Thursday he’s been in communication with Education Secretary Linda McMahon about the issue. He also said he plans to speak with President Donald Trump about the funds when he and other GOP senators have dinner with him Friday night.
“Hopefully, we’ll have an answer on that in the future,” Tuberville said. “It’s been frozen, but should…in the near future be released in some form or fashion.”
In Alabama, K-12 schools expected to receive at least $68 million on July 1 to fund multiple services, including summer and after-school programs and some teacher salaries. However, Alabama officials were told one day before they were set to receive the money that the funds would remain unavailable pending a review.
“Being in education and being in coaching, I know that there’s a lot of money that needs to be spent on summer schools and things that go along with education when full-time school is not in…(so) we’ll have an answer on that in the next week,” Tuberville said.
U.S. Katie Britt, R-Ala., signed onto a letter with nine other Republican senators Wednesday asking for the Office of Management and Budget to unfreeze the money that had already been appropriated.
“These funds go to support programs that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school-aged children, which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies,” the senators wrote.
The letter to OMB Director Russell Vought noted how the funding freeze runs opposite to Trump’s efforts to return education to the states.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey told Alabama Daily News this week that he’s hopeful the money will get released since Congress had already authorized the funds for the new school year.
You can see all of Alabama’s school funds that are currently under review here.